THE LEAD investigator in the ambush-slay of lawyer Amelie Alegre is moving on to another assignment.
Head Agent Rennan Augustus Oliva of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) was recently appointed chief of the agency’s district office in Bohol.
He will leave his post as soon as construction of the NBI office in Bohol is completed, said NBI 7 Assistant Director Augusto Isidoro.
Oliva, a member of the bar, also investigated the murder of Cebuano lawyers Noel Archival and Ricard Sison in previous years.
“The NBI 7 received last week a Special Order from our central office in Manila regarding the transfer of Atty. Oliva to Bohol. Another investigator needs to take over the Alegre case,” Isidoro told Cebu Daily News.
Special Investigator Teodoro Saavedra was assigned.
The slain lawyer’s 67-year-old mother Marieta expressed dismay over Oliva’s transfer to Bohol, saying it would affect the progress of the investigation.
No suspects have been identified, charged or arrested in the Aug. 13 car ambush.
Last Oct. 2, Marieta approached the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City chapter and announced that friends of her daughter have raised reward money for information that could lead to the arrest of the assailants and the mastermind. No amount was disclosed.
“I’m really disappointed with how things are going. Where are the suspects now? We’re hoping the reward money can help speed up the investigation,” Marieta told CDN.
Marieta said she would not stop until she gets justice for her daughter.
“Do not worry. I will never lose hope,” she said.
Aside from the NBI, the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) is conducting its own probe on Alegre’s slay.
Senior Supt. Mariano Natu-el Jr., director of MCPO, had announced that police have identified the possible mastermind.
He refused to elaborate so as not to preempt the investigation.
Alegre, 37, was driving her BMW sedan along Catalino Ouano Street in barangay Looc, Mandaue City when two men on board a motorcycle fired at her.
Her passengers, law firm partner Briccio Boholst and office accountant Antonio Pino, were wounded.